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Abstract
Narratives of “time” can play a type of stabilising role in official discourses surrounding exceptional security practice. Whether referencing (or silencing) historical moments, forecasting when measures will return to normal, or debating temporal processes of law making, time can play a significant role in how discourses influence self/other perceptions and material outcomes of security: “x” event demands immediate response, “y” possible future catastrophe poses unacceptable risk, “z” terrorist is an ever-present yet ever-changing other. British counterterrorism law is a useful illustration to investigate how narratives of “time” influenced a shift in counterterrorism law from temporally situated but temporary measures to a type of atemporal policy position. Conceptualising the current state of counterterrorism as “atemporal” enables analysis to look beyond “the” exception, “the” event or “the” emergency. Through this conceptualisation we can better see how context has been left outside the realm of counterterrorism. In so doing, we may open new avenues for collaboration between terrorism studies, peace research and security practice.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank participants (Christopher C. Leite, Liam Stockdale, and Ty Solomon) and discussant (Dr Rens van Munster) in the 2013 International Studies Association Annual Convention panel “Taking Time Seriously: Temporality and (In)security in International Relations”, participants of the BISA Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group Conference 2012, “Terrorism, Peace and Conflict Studies: Investigating the Crossroad” at Kent University's Conflict Analysis Research Centre, Dr Ioannis Tellidis, Dr Harmonie Toros, Dr Paul Kirby, and one anonymous reviewer for very helpful discussion and comments on earlier drafts.
Notes
1. Political parties for speakers are abbreviated, see Appendix 1.
2. This is the referencing format that will be used throughout the article. Though debates are not always referenced to include the debate title, the focus of language for this article makes such an inclusion appropriate.
3. For a broader and philosophically deeper discussion on temporality and politics, see Hutchings (Citation2008).
4. Though “securitisation” is not the focus of this article, it can be defined here as the process whereby an issue is accepted as an exceptional security issue when an existential threat risks the survival of a particular referent object. For seminal works on Copenhagen School securitisation, see Waever (Citation1995), Buzan, Waever, and de Wilde (Citation1998), Guzzini and Jung (Citation2004), and Gad and Petersen (Citation2011).
5. For an instructive comprehensive work on temporality and the War on Terror, see Jarvis (Citation2009).
6. It is important to note the impact of work by Paddy Hillyard on the literature around suspect communities.
7. Though not engaged with in this article, it is important to note how such discussions frequently reference the work of Giorgio Agamben.
8. Though of course mitigation is a part of the overarching counterterrorism strategy, as seen in the “Prepare” and “Protect” pillars of CONTEST.
9. This acknowledgement of the movement of boundaries around the “rule of law” is not to say that it is a notion completely devoid of physical and material consequence. Certain moments of stickiness and stability can hold, but there is no essence to a rule of law existing “out there”.
10. See Wendt (Citation1998) for what could be interpreted as a slightly different view of constitution and causation.
11. All emphases in direct citations have been added by the author.
12. The House voted 179 ayes to 32 noes in approval of “the Detention of Terrorists (Northern Ireland) Order” 1972.
13. The report and third reading were put into one day of debate.
14. Recruitment for the IRA increased significantly following the reintroduction of internment on 9 August 1972 as deep sentiments of injustice for the Catholic community were reignited (before the “Troubles” the power of internment housed in the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act 1920).
15. These connections between boundary drawing, othering, security practice and insecurity are durable features of historically rooted practices of governance that demand further analysis, with work currently under progress by the author in this regard.
16. See “Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 (Enforcement of External Orders) Order 1995”, HL Deb 9 March 1995 vol. 562 col. 464–468, for discourse framing “middle eastern” with “foreign” and foreshadowing an externalised inter-subjective understanding of “international terrorism”).
17. On immigration and British counterterrorism, see also Huysmans and Buonfino (Citation2008).
18. See Hall and Jackson (Citation2007) for a range of work looking into “civilisation”.